eignetevsereigneteWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: eignete is a verb, ereignete is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eignete” is a verb and “ereignete” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,606
“eignete” frequency rank
#16,134
“ereignete” frequency rank
65740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eignete ereignete
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs eignen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs ereignet

Where the eye mixes eignete and ereignete

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. eignete runs 7 letters (VVCCVCV) against ereignete's 9 (VCVVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
eignete
9 ch
ereignete

Why the eye confuses eignete with ereignete

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eignete is [ˈaɪ̯ɡnətə] while ereignete is [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯ɡnətə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “eignete” sits inside “ereignete”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eignete is recorded at frequency rank #49,606, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈaɪ̯ɡnətə]. ereignete is at rank #16,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈʔaɪ̯ɡnətə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 65740, this pair ranks #596,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eignete vs ereignete

Shared letters: egint. Private to "eignete": -. Private to "ereignete": r.

"eignete" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVCV  ·  "ereignete" · 9 letters · shape VCVVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eignete ← eginete · eigente · eiggnete · eigneet · eignette · eignnete · eigntee · eingete
  • ereignete ← eerignete · ereginete · ereigente · ereiggnete · ereigneet · ereignette · ereignnete · ereigntee

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eignete" and "ereignete" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eignete" is a verb and "ereignete" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "eignete" or "ereignete"?
"ereignete" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,134 in our German list, against #49,606 for "eignete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eignete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ereignete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #596,682 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eignete" and "ereignete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eigne vs eignete". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #596,682 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list